Misguided
by Heart2Heroes
Summary: Takes place after Wally accuses Artemis of being paranoid over Red Arrow joining the team. Things go south for the two of them. Wally gives Artemis the cold shoulder, no matter how much it would hurt her... or him. "If she really was so freaked out by another archer joining the team, then she isn't the girl I fell in love with." Spitfire, reviews are appreciated.
1. Chapter 1, Feelings

She sat alone in her room as she did so many times before. Everything was as she left before she went on the mission. Bed made, shades over window adding on to the gloomy atmosphere. Nothing special about the girl's room, not much decoration other than the lonely Alice in Wonderland poster that hung on the deserted wall. Everything was always quiet and depressing in Artemis' room, yet on that one day, everything felt even lonelier. The room felt darker than it usually did, and the feeling was even more depressing than it normally was.

Artemis was seated on her bed only staring at the floor with a soft expression of sorrow on her face. She had been depressed about losing family before, about several things that took turns for the worse in her life, but none like this. The memory of his eyes filled with rage was creating an even emptier pit in her heart. But that wasn't even the worse part, not even the fact that what he believed was not true, the worse part was the look of disappointment in his eyes. That's what stung the most.

Fresh tears slipped from the silver eyed archer's eyes. He had always bickered with her, argued with her, but he had never been angry at her, or talked to her in such a shattering way. The usually jolly boy that she enjoyed talking with, coming up with bitter come backs with, was now the boy that least wanted to see her.

'What you've proved is that you're **selfish** and **insecure**.'

His words were stuck on replay, making Artemis go nearly insane. She knew it was not true, that her reasons were not because of insecurity, but the thing that mattered was that **he did**. **He** believed she's insecure. **He** believed she's selfish. He was who mattered most at that moment. His words were what hurt most at the moment.

Not even Roy's haunting speech about Artemis lying to the team was what kept her awake through the night, but Wally's voice. His words, they were the ones that haunted Artemis the most.

She did not focus much on why he mattered most; she only knew that for some reason his words, and how he thought of her, now meant the world.

The broken girl sobbed with her hands covering her face entirely. She could feel the cold tears press down on her hot red cheeks. Wally was the one haunting her. His voice, his actions, his looks…were endless in Artemis' brain. They tortured her all night, not allowing her to forget.

' **Please** tell me I'm **wrong** '

The look. His bright green eyes now as dark as her room. They would not leave her alone. "I'm sorry…" she sobbed. "I'm sorry" was all she could say. She was upset. She was beyond upset,

She was broken.

He grunted he sighed; he tightened his fists and beat the bed. He rolled and squirmed around his room with exasperation everywhere he went. Wally West was angry. " _How could she do that? Why would she do that?_ " thoughts racing through the speedsters mind every two seconds, all directed at Artemis. " _Is she really that paranoid? That insecure?_ "

He clenched his teeth tightly and grunted at his now aching head.

No matter how much he wanted to ignore what Artemis had done, he just couldn't.

"Why is all I want to know. Why did the confident and brave archer I know and love suddenly-"

Wally paused for a moment. He had his hands behind his head, and as he stopped talking he slowly landed on his bed. He sighed and took a moment to catch his breath, "why did she do it?" he whispered in to the quiet, empty room.

The only Artemis Wally knew was the great archer, the fearless girl with a quick tongue, for her to suddenly become paranoid of a new member on the team just wasn't like her. At all.

"There has to be a reason…" he murmured before laying back on is bed. "There has to be another reason why…" Wally stared up at the ceiling slightly less stressed than he was before.

He was beginning to remember the Artemis he first met. She was confident, and mischievous. When she joined the team, he never thought he would end up liking her so much.

He was always in to the nice girls, the ones that would easily fall for him by just a flick of his wrist, but Artemis? She was anything but interested in him, and neither was he.

But the more he got to know the less annoying parts of this blond haired girl, the more caught up he had gotten with her. She was so much different from other girls. He ended up falling for her without even realizing it. Falling for the silver eyed, courageous beauty. And he was perfectly ok with that.

But now?

Everything he had known about Artemis, at least, everything he thought he had known about Artemis had gone to waste. If she was really so freaked out about another archer joining the team, then she wasn't the girl Wally loved so much.

How things were going to change now for Wally and Artemis. They won't be the same. Not by a longshot.


	2. Chapter 2, Regrets

The next day the cave seemed a little more quiet than usual. Every one entered the training room like any other day, but for some reason a heavy sadness loomed over the team. M'gann spoke out to try and get rid of the weight on her teammates, but with all her efforts, every one remained in a state of slowness, in their own world.

Artemis was looking over her shoulder at an unseen figure during the whole training session. She avoided eye contact with almost every one. But every so often she would raise her head to look at Wally. He noticed her eyes pointed at him every time they did but he ignored them. He never returned a look, never said a word to her.

Black Canary seemed to notice the tension but continued as if everything was fine. Wally was acting his goofy self with robin and M'gann, sneaking in a cheesy flirt with the Martian whenever he could, but whenever he got near Artemis, he ignored her completely. As if she wasn't even there.

"Now today, I will be teaching one of my most successful moves, the Canary kick. The name sounds simple, but trust me, it's anything but. Now I will require a sparring partner." She waited for someone to volunteer. Wally was the first once to lift his hand as usual. "Great. Now stand here." She directed the ginger haired boy in front of her and got in a fighting stance. She signaled for him to make the first move and he grinned as he attempted to charge at Black Canary instantly. She dogged it of course and took his hands before they reached her, lifter her leg over his head and slammed him on the bright floor with a satisfying thud. He groaned, "Never felt better…" he said with a goofy expression

"Now did you all see what I did there? You have to make sure you keep your balance during the move or you could end up with a very bad stretched muscle." She said as she helped Wally to his feet. "Now everyone pick your partner and practice that move until you believe you have perfected it."

Everyone scrambled for a moment to pick their partner. Robin had chosen Superboy, leaving M'gann to have Aqualad. Artemis was in the back of the crowd and Wally had been to busy recovering from his minor injury to be picked as a partner.

He sighed bitterly when he realized who was left. She tried to ignore his reaction.

They both got near each other in an awkward silence. She had no idea what to say to him and neither did he. "I'll go first…" murmured Artemis and Wally shook his head. "No. You're going to screw up like last time, you should let me show you how it's done, after all, I don't let my **insecurities** get in the way of me."

The room grew quiet. Artemis glared at Wally with the rage of a roaring fire yet remained silent. Everyone slowly went back to their training and the now, very angry and hurt archer responded. " **Fine.** "

Wally was not satisfied by getting what he wanted. He only continued the exercise and roughly bashed Artemis to the ground. As hard as it was for him to admit it, he was holding back as much as he could. He did not want to hurt her, no matter how angry he was, but he just couldn't stand being near her. He cared, yet he remained very disappointed.

Artemis grunted and slowly stood up. Wally did not bother to help her. She looked at him in the eyes and he finally looked back.

He saw sadness. He looked in to them and could tell she was hurting. But he gave her a cold look that still said the word 'disappointed'.

Before Wally broke down and began apologizing, he looked away. " _I can't. I can't let her get to me like this…_ " he glanced up at the now almost in tears girl. He quickly turned away. " _No Wally. Snap out of it_."

Wally turned to face the others only to find out they were already staring at him. He got slightly embarrassed and sighed before turning back and apologizing to Artemis.

But when he turned she was gone.

The room's silence was interrupted by Canary's voice, "that's… enough for today. Good work."

The team slowly evaporated throughout the cave leaving Wally alone in the room.

" _Where did she go? Aw dude… that was way too harsh… even for Artemis…_ " Wally groaned and smacked his hand on to his face, "What was I thinking…" he uttered with a heavy regret.

" _I really screwed up this time didn't I…"_


	3. Chapter 3, Heartache

Artemis hurried off away from every one. She felt new cold tears escape her eyes as she hid away in a dark corner of the cave. "Was it not enough for Wally to break me down yesterday?"

She sobbed but tried her best to keep in her tears. When she noticed the team was aware of how Wally spoke to her, what he said to her, she was certain even they were shocked by it. "He hates me…" she whispered with a sniffle. "He hates me now…"

Artemis was never a big fan of crying, and she avoided it whenever she could, but when something like this happened, losing someone who meant so much to her happened again, not even the strongest parts of her could hold in the sorrow.

Losing people was Artemis' weakness.

But losing Wally was different.

Wally was more than just a teammate or a friend to the archer, he was her happiness. No matter how much they argued and bickered with each other, he was the only one that managed to make her smile and laugh. Real smiles and real laughs, not just the fake ones she put on for other people, a real feeling of happiness.

But now that was gone.

Artemis' happiness was long gone. Wally was long gone.

Artemis rested her head against the wall and took deep breaths in an effort to calm herself but she could not help but feel she would never be happy again. Losing Wally was like losing a piece of her heart, an irreplaceable piece.

Her only happiness through the dark days she was going through was now as dim as her dark life.

She lowered her head and wiped away the chilling drops from her eyes. Artemis hugged herself, now staring at the emptiness around her, "This is my reality." She whispered under her breath, "There's no such thing as fairy tales in my reality…" she said as she slowly leaned back and lowered her eye lids till they were closed completely.

She thought about the many tales of princesses and lost girls she read as a child. They were tantalizing her, because she knew they were all too good to be true.

If Artemis believed she was broken before, then she would have never imagined seeing herself now.

The blond haired, silver eyed beauty was broken, and now she had truly lost everything.

Wally was racing rogue around the cave. He looked in the kitchen and the living room, re checked the training room and still nothing. "Do you think she went home?" asked the panicking speedster to his best friend, Robin.

"No, we would have heard one of the zeta tubes go off if she had, maybe you just need to look a little more."

Wally shook his head, "I looked everywhere!" Robin paused for a moment to think,

"Did you look in any of the rooms? Or just the main areas like kitchen, cave parts etcetera?"

Wally smacked his head and groaned, "No. I'm such an… Thanks Rob"

Robin smiled and nodded, "Anytime, kf."

And just like that, Wally was zooming through all the rooms. He scanned all of them thoroughly till he made it to the very last room at the end of the hall. He paused to think for a moment, " _Alright, if she's not here, then she had to have left somehow because by now, I'm sure I searched everywhere._ " He paused, " _I'm 99% sure..._ "

Wally slowly turned the knob of the door. He heard a small click and pushed forward slowly. He didn't really know what he would say if she was in there, but he knew it was along the lines of 'I'm sorry'

The red head peered through the small opening of the room. He looked around and it seemed like it was empty, but as he stepped out further, he noticed something leaning against the wall. No, someone leaning against the wall.

Wally was preparing himself to see the worse, but nothing could have prepared him enough for what he was about to see.

A weak, broken Artemis.

He froze in shock at the sight of the once strong independent archer now curled up in tears on the cold floor of the room.

"This is my fault…"

Wally felt a deep pit begin to form in his aching heart, " _I broke Artemis…_ " he put his hand over his chest, " _I broke her…_ " he gave Artemis the deepest look of sympathy he could ever give, " _I'm so sorry…_ "


	4. Chapter 4, Endlessly loved

He stepped closer and kneeled next to her. He did not think she noticed his presence in the room.

His hand trembled nervously when he reached out to touch her shoulder. He was nervous because he was guilty. No matter how mad Wally was with Artemis, she would never deserve to suffer like that. The last thing he wanted was to see her cry, to see her hurt, yet that was exactly what he did, and he hated himself for it.

He moved in closer as he rested his hand on the sobbing girl's shoulder, "…Artemis?"

His voice was soft and notably sincere. The voice of Wally was almost way too familiar, but something about it was different, it did not sound mad or even happy, it sounded soft and full of sorrow as it reached her ears.

She raised her head slowly to meet her shiny silver eyes with his bright green ones. They weren't full of anger anymore, which gave Artemis a slightly ok feeling in her aching heart.

They were bright, and full of a sorry glow.

Wally gazed in to Artemis' puffy red face. The look of sadness dug deeper in to his heart, it hurt him so much to see her like this.

"I'm sorry, Artemis. I… I didn't mean to… to hurt you so badly…"

She could see the regret written clear as day on his face.

She did not know what to say and soon, the two grew quiet. He was looking in to her soul like an open window, and the more he looked, the worse he felt. He had broken her with his stupid words, he broke this girl that he loved so much. How could he sleep at night knowing what he did?

"Artemis… I was ignorant to treat you like that…. It's just I get caught up and…. I don't consider how bad my big mouth could hurt someone, but I want you to know I am extremely sorry… The last thing I'd ever want is to see you like this, please say you'll forgive me… I hope you know by now I didn't mean anything… that was just my anger talking… I care about you Artemis, I…"

Wally was almost on the verge of crying himself, he paused to see the archer looking right back at him with an equal amount of sincerity. He wanted to say it but he was worried she didn't feel the same way. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't feel the same way, not after how mean he was to her.

"I… love you…"

Artemis felt a flame flicker in her heart at the three words that slipped out of Wally's mouth. She could see just by the light expression on his face, that he meant it. But how could she respond? Her heart was racing and before she could talk, Wally had continued

"After what I said, it's ok if you don't feel the same way… I just needed you to-"

Artemis had cut off Wally's nervous sentence with a kiss she could not stop herself from giving. Wally had no problem kissing back to her sudden surprise.

As their lips pressed against the other, Wally felt his heart racing faster than his feet ever could. He felt sparks flying and soon realized what people meant by those crazy explanations of that amazing feeling they got from kissing the person they've been wanting for so long. From the girl that mattered most to them.

Mattered most to him.

Wally felt on top of the world now as Artemis slowly moved away and separated herself from him.

She was holding back an obvious smile, a smile that only Wally could give her. In the end Artemis Crock did not lose her happiness, she only made it bigger than it ever was.

Wally seemed to be waiting for something as he smiled with a now very eager face. Artemis caught on soon enough and sighed with a small laugh, "I love you too."

Wally did not bother to hold back any longer and charged at the now happy archer with a full embrace.

She was no longer cold or feeling empty, Wally filled the missing piece with that one hug and those three words that would ring in her mind forever.

" ** _Finally_** "

Both of them admitted to themselves as they hugged tightly, in no mood to let go. After all the bickering, all the pointless arguing, they finally said it. Neither was holding themselves back as they laughed in between the warm hug, a feeling sang out from them like no other, Wally West and Artemis Crock were in love, hopelessly, vulnerably in love.

They knew that, and were perfectly fine with it.


End file.
